Editors note: This blog turned out way longer than I had anticipated. It's essentially a journal entry for myself, posted publicly so people can critique and support. I suggest skimming unless you REALLY want to know stuff about me.
Alastair Humphreys has an awesome blog. He's known for "microadventures" which are practical and logistically easy outings that don't take an incredible amount of resources. He's a writer and posts a ton. Some of his stuff is golden and others are frivolous (as are most blogs). His latest post falls into the former category. He poses 20 questions to answer honestly and publicly. I thought it was a great idea, so voila, an interesting and personal questionnaire.
1. Do you earn enough money? Yes. Not really a practical question as I'm not yet completely reliant on myself for income (thank you parents.) I really don't need any more money than I made this past summer to support my extracurricular habits. I anticipate this question to be an interesting one a year from now. Who knows where I'll be and what I'll be doing!?
2. Do you enjoy your job? I suppose my job now is "student" for one last year. I really do enjoy it because it's so much more than just sitting in class. In regards to that part, I either hate a class or love it. I LOVE my urban forestry class and read the supplemental material (gasp!) but I could care absolutely less about my environmental policy and planning class. I'm required to take that, so I just suck up those classes. Moreso than being a student in class though is the social aspect of it. It's tiring, but it's an amazing luxury. Everybody around me is relatively my own age. Everybody's going through the same stuff. Every day is different. Work loads fluctuate. Drinks are cheap.
3. Do you prefer Saturday or Monday? Great question. I'm with probably 99% of the population here still--Saturdays. I'm NOT in the "Mondays suck" or "I have a case of the Mondays" group though. I try to be more positive than that. I can make Mondays better by taking a chunk of my day to do something that I want to do, not have to do. I need to brainstorm an idea to make each day of the week special. Every day should be awesome. At least I recognize that. Work to do.
4. What would you like to be doing one year from now? I'll be realistic. OUT WEST. Colorado, Oregon, Northern northern California, Washington. One of those. I hope to have a job with a company I enjoy working for, doing something where I am NOT looking at the clock waiting to go run. I want a job where I can enjoy what I'm doing and be fully immersed in that for the work day. I had this fantasy to never do a "real job" (AKA be a guide) but I've figured out that's not for me. I want a real job, but a real job doesn't have to have the negative connotation that I associate with the phrase. I'd like to be living in an area where I have EASY access to MOUNTAINS. I'd like to be working for a private urban forestry company gaining experience in that field. I'd like to be worry free, have a group of positive-minded and supportive friends who I can adventure with, and maybe a girlfriend man. If I can make a majority of those things happen I'd be stoked. I can.
5. What would you like to be doing five years from now? Woof. Rough question. My ideal situation would be living in a rural-ish area, doing a small commute (via bike) into a city/suburb to do an established job conducting tree health assessments for an urban forestry company. Geography is obviously a big part for me. I'd like to have had five big trips under my belt. One big trip a year, someplace different, gaining experience, backpacking, running, climbing, exploring, whatever all of the above. I want to still be "funhogging." Healthy. Have a way to remain fit and pushing myself physically, weather that be running or something else. I'd like to be stable financially. Steady girlfriend or a wife. Or just a dog. I need to make the trip thing a priority. That gets me stoked.
6. What would you do with your life if you were a billionaire? Travel the world and live simply. Buy a huge chunk of land and manage multi-use style. I can live a modified version of that life but in smaller chunks with my one huge trip a year. Smaller trips in between. Buying land would have to come waaay later.
7. How much could you cut your outgoings by? Odd question. Not sure if I understand it. The dude who made this list is British? If I cut my outgoings I'd be a hermit. Gotta maintain friendships even if you don't want to at the specific time.
8. Do you have enough spare time to do the things you really enjoy? Oh yea. College can be mega busy, but its in spurts and not really scheduled. I get out frequently.
9. What takes up a lot of your time but is neither unavoidable, rewarding, nor enjoyable? I'm not sure actually. I'd say Facebook and twitter. But then I wouldn't see these cool lists like this. I dunno. Bad answer by me. Cop out.
10. What mildly pleasant, but pretty pointless things do you fritter too much time doing? Ok, definitely Facebook and twitter. Reading blogs and iRunFar. I'm getting better at not spending so much time though, I don't read all peoples tweets anymore or every word in their blog. I'm skimming.
11. What would you like to do more of? Read. Write :)
12. What motivates you to do something well? Man such a good question. I think doing something well motivates me to do it well? My personality places value on only a certain small number of things, but I focus 100% on them and do it extremely well. Case in point Grindstone. My preparation has been FOCUSED and quality. And fun.... that's not a very good answer though. I need to improve on this question. I used to try and prove things to people. That's so unhealthy.
13. Who do you envy, and why? Envy? Eeek. I actually think I envy happy people. I struggle with "happiness." On one hand I love what I do, but on another hand I feel like there are people out there positive and friendly and happy-go-lucky most times, whereas I'm just melancholy. That's my personality though. Hmph. I envy people who don't care what others think. I think they go hand in hand.
14. If you were 100 and looking back on your life, would you be happy with a life well-lived? Meh. I need to do more things that I enjoy and stop following people. I was always a solo flyer, kind of doing my own thing, but lately I feel like I'm just following the "ultra scene." I need to find something that I want to do, then do lots of it in moderation.
15. What makes you proud, satisfied, and content? Pushing myself and figuring out things about myself. Being at the end of my rope, and ending something with a smile on my face and not comparing my results to others. Making my parents and good friends proud.
16. What makes you frustrated, bored, and unfulfilled? Wasting time. Waiting for other people. Wanting to be social but not going out. Looking for lost things. Buzzwords. Thinking about the past. Comparing myself to others (social media does not help this).
17. What would you do if you had more talent? Play sports professionally. Not go to class.
18. What would you do if you had more guts? Ask more people uncomfortable questions. Ask girls out.
19. What would you do with your life if nobody was watching, judging, or commenting? Live in the middle of nowhere. Ab.so.lute.ly. no.where.
20. What are you going to do about all this? MAKE BETTER ANSWERS NEXT YEAR! haha. Nah. I'm going to look at this a year from now and evaluate where I'm at. I'm going to give away half my clothes. I'm going to go on a crazy trip this year. I'm going to spend less time on twitter and facebook. I'm going to find something special to do each day of the week. Boom.
Alastair Humphreys has an awesome blog. He's known for "microadventures" which are practical and logistically easy outings that don't take an incredible amount of resources. He's a writer and posts a ton. Some of his stuff is golden and others are frivolous (as are most blogs). His latest post falls into the former category. He poses 20 questions to answer honestly and publicly. I thought it was a great idea, so voila, an interesting and personal questionnaire.
1. Do you earn enough money? Yes. Not really a practical question as I'm not yet completely reliant on myself for income (thank you parents.) I really don't need any more money than I made this past summer to support my extracurricular habits. I anticipate this question to be an interesting one a year from now. Who knows where I'll be and what I'll be doing!?
2. Do you enjoy your job? I suppose my job now is "student" for one last year. I really do enjoy it because it's so much more than just sitting in class. In regards to that part, I either hate a class or love it. I LOVE my urban forestry class and read the supplemental material (gasp!) but I could care absolutely less about my environmental policy and planning class. I'm required to take that, so I just suck up those classes. Moreso than being a student in class though is the social aspect of it. It's tiring, but it's an amazing luxury. Everybody around me is relatively my own age. Everybody's going through the same stuff. Every day is different. Work loads fluctuate. Drinks are cheap.
3. Do you prefer Saturday or Monday? Great question. I'm with probably 99% of the population here still--Saturdays. I'm NOT in the "Mondays suck" or "I have a case of the Mondays" group though. I try to be more positive than that. I can make Mondays better by taking a chunk of my day to do something that I want to do, not have to do. I need to brainstorm an idea to make each day of the week special. Every day should be awesome. At least I recognize that. Work to do.
4. What would you like to be doing one year from now? I'll be realistic. OUT WEST. Colorado, Oregon, Northern northern California, Washington. One of those. I hope to have a job with a company I enjoy working for, doing something where I am NOT looking at the clock waiting to go run. I want a job where I can enjoy what I'm doing and be fully immersed in that for the work day. I had this fantasy to never do a "real job" (AKA be a guide) but I've figured out that's not for me. I want a real job, but a real job doesn't have to have the negative connotation that I associate with the phrase. I'd like to be living in an area where I have EASY access to MOUNTAINS. I'd like to be working for a private urban forestry company gaining experience in that field. I'd like to be worry free, have a group of positive-minded and supportive friends who I can adventure with, and maybe a girlfriend man. If I can make a majority of those things happen I'd be stoked. I can.
5. What would you like to be doing five years from now? Woof. Rough question. My ideal situation would be living in a rural-ish area, doing a small commute (via bike) into a city/suburb to do an established job conducting tree health assessments for an urban forestry company. Geography is obviously a big part for me. I'd like to have had five big trips under my belt. One big trip a year, someplace different, gaining experience, backpacking, running, climbing, exploring, whatever all of the above. I want to still be "funhogging." Healthy. Have a way to remain fit and pushing myself physically, weather that be running or something else. I'd like to be stable financially. Steady girlfriend or a wife. Or just a dog. I need to make the trip thing a priority. That gets me stoked.
6. What would you do with your life if you were a billionaire? Travel the world and live simply. Buy a huge chunk of land and manage multi-use style. I can live a modified version of that life but in smaller chunks with my one huge trip a year. Smaller trips in between. Buying land would have to come waaay later.
7. How much could you cut your outgoings by? Odd question. Not sure if I understand it. The dude who made this list is British? If I cut my outgoings I'd be a hermit. Gotta maintain friendships even if you don't want to at the specific time.
8. Do you have enough spare time to do the things you really enjoy? Oh yea. College can be mega busy, but its in spurts and not really scheduled. I get out frequently.
9. What takes up a lot of your time but is neither unavoidable, rewarding, nor enjoyable? I'm not sure actually. I'd say Facebook and twitter. But then I wouldn't see these cool lists like this. I dunno. Bad answer by me. Cop out.
10. What mildly pleasant, but pretty pointless things do you fritter too much time doing? Ok, definitely Facebook and twitter. Reading blogs and iRunFar. I'm getting better at not spending so much time though, I don't read all peoples tweets anymore or every word in their blog. I'm skimming.
11. What would you like to do more of? Read. Write :)
12. What motivates you to do something well? Man such a good question. I think doing something well motivates me to do it well? My personality places value on only a certain small number of things, but I focus 100% on them and do it extremely well. Case in point Grindstone. My preparation has been FOCUSED and quality. And fun.... that's not a very good answer though. I need to improve on this question. I used to try and prove things to people. That's so unhealthy.
13. Who do you envy, and why? Envy? Eeek. I actually think I envy happy people. I struggle with "happiness." On one hand I love what I do, but on another hand I feel like there are people out there positive and friendly and happy-go-lucky most times, whereas I'm just melancholy. That's my personality though. Hmph. I envy people who don't care what others think. I think they go hand in hand.
14. If you were 100 and looking back on your life, would you be happy with a life well-lived? Meh. I need to do more things that I enjoy and stop following people. I was always a solo flyer, kind of doing my own thing, but lately I feel like I'm just following the "ultra scene." I need to find something that I want to do, then do lots of it in moderation.
15. What makes you proud, satisfied, and content? Pushing myself and figuring out things about myself. Being at the end of my rope, and ending something with a smile on my face and not comparing my results to others. Making my parents and good friends proud.
16. What makes you frustrated, bored, and unfulfilled? Wasting time. Waiting for other people. Wanting to be social but not going out. Looking for lost things. Buzzwords. Thinking about the past. Comparing myself to others (social media does not help this).
17. What would you do if you had more talent? Play sports professionally. Not go to class.
18. What would you do if you had more guts? Ask more people uncomfortable questions. Ask girls out.
19. What would you do with your life if nobody was watching, judging, or commenting? Live in the middle of nowhere. Ab.so.lute.ly. no.where.
20. What are you going to do about all this? MAKE BETTER ANSWERS NEXT YEAR! haha. Nah. I'm going to look at this a year from now and evaluate where I'm at. I'm going to give away half my clothes. I'm going to go on a crazy trip this year. I'm going to spend less time on twitter and facebook. I'm going to find something special to do each day of the week. Boom.
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| Rough fall at midnight coming off of Priest |
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| Priest and 3 Ridges. Last big run. Time to rest. |
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